Wise Times Newsletter Spring 2023

WORDS FROM THE WISE

The Magic of Camp Stories

By Rabbi Dan Utley, Director

“In the glimmering sparks of the campfire lie a thousand stories.”

As a child, I recall my camp director starting each Saturday night campfire story with this line. Today, I’d amend that quote to say, “around the picnic tables, gaga pits and hammock swings of Camp Wise begin a thousand stories. ” Walking through our camp’s villages in the summer we witness countless memories and friendships forming and stories taking place.

In the Camp Wise community, stories are often filled with energy, fun and life lessons: a trip to Israel; the first summer in Chalutzim; an unforgettable cabin reunion; being “COs” for a crazy cabin; the

time Red team won Maccabia; or a friend who stepped up to help in a crisis. This February, almost 60 Israel Leadership Summer (ILS) 11th and 12th grade participants gathered for a whole weekend at Camp Wise to share old stories and begin new ones. Our weekend retreat was profound; as one camper shared, “I never knew I’d care so much about a Jewish experience in my life.”

Read the full story

Camp Wise Hires New Assistant Director

We are pleased to announce that Ezra Suldan is the new assistant director of Camp Wise. He will begin his role in May, upon graduation from Yale University in religious studies, and will be responsible for program design, camper recruitment and social media communications. In addition to excellent programmatic creativity, he has a keen awareness of youth development and inclusion.

Ezra grew up in Baltimore, MD, where he gained his first appreciation for Jewish overnight camp as a camper, counselor and village leader of Capital Camps (a partnership with Greater Washington, Richmond and Virginia Beach JCCs). In his free time, Ezra loves to cook, go on road trips and browse the cereal aisles at grocery stores to keep up with new products. Breakfast is his favorite meal at camp!

He joins the year-round team that includes Assistant Director Rebecca Copeland, Community Care Manager Amy Kalk and Office Manager/Registrar Hannah Mendelsohn.

Please join us in welcoming Ezra with a Camp Wise cheer “we welcome you to Wise in Chardon!”

Camp Wise ILS 2022

Noar Girls 2022

Making Mensches

“The Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehudah Loeb, d. 1609) created a golem (a being from clay that came to life), and this was a great wonder. But how much more wonderful is it to transform a corporeal human being into a mensch!” –Rabbi Israel Salanter

and decided that while most of them still reflected who we are and our goals, they needed some updating.

Read the full story and updated Seven Core Values

Rabbi Shana Nyer Jewish Educator

I have spent the past eight summers teaching and reminding campers and staff that while we often define the Yiddish word “mensch” as a good or kind person, the actual translation is simply “person.” (Literally “man”, but we are going to be mensches and use the more inclusive “person”).

For many years now, Camp Wise has had Six Core Values that inform our work, who we are as a camp community, and how we guide our campers and staff to be mensches both while at camp and in life. As we prepare for this coming summer, the head staff reviewed our core values

Wise Friends on Stage and in the Family L’DOR V’DOR

It’s hard to believe that alumni Fred Sternfeld and Noah Budin share something even more precious than the memories they made at Camp Wise in the late ‘70s – they share a grandson. Fred and Noah met in the summer of 1975 when Noah was a JIT and Fred was Campcraft Specialist. Fred first noticed Noah one afternoon as he was playing guitar in K’far Noar. “A group of girls gathered ‘round to watch, listening and enamored,” said Sternfeld. He decided in that moment to learn guitar too and so their friendship began.

Beginning in 1977, Sternfeld and Budin spent several summers working together on the Camp Wise plays. They did

everything to ready the shows: scene work, choreography, costuming, sets and backdrops. Noah remembers a production of Fiddler where the dream scene required a bed. He and Fred either did or did not have permission to procure wood and hardware to build a bed, but, “somehow on opening night, there it was!” said Budin. Being on staff led to the most formative and powerful experiences for both men. The responsibility of leading groups on overnights or canoe trips at Mohican were growth experiences for each of them. However, “forming warm and supportive relationships with kids and learning that I could organize projects from start to

continued on page 3

C.I.T.s (Campers in Training)

Camp Wise Alum Future Camper

Helen Grubb Meyer

Alissa (Feldman) Goodman Dylan

Julia (Steinberger) Levitt Nathan Levitt

Rachel Minkin Roman Yagudaev

Kim (Jacobson) Hagay Mia Hagay

Ashley (Southard) London Colbie London

B’nai Mitzvah

We are proud of you, I said we are proud of you... uh!

When someone at Camp Wise celebrates a big day, we all stand on our benches and cheer about it! Here is a big CW cheer for all those campers who have celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah since our last newsletter. Please let us know if we’ve missed you and we will include you in our next issue.

Evan Behrens

Mia Brecher

Gideon Greenberg

Isaac Luzar

Leah Polien

Abe Somogyi

Devin Zitelli

“I’m tryin’ to tell you something about my life...”

WHAT’S AROUND THE CORNER?

FOR CAMPERS AND FAMILIES JOIN US IN AUGUST IMPACT DAY

NEW FAMILY TOURS

Sunday, April 23 • 12-4 pm

NEW FAMILY NIGHT

Wednesday, April 26 • 6:30 pm

OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, May 21 • 1-3 pm

TO REGISTER

mandeljcc.org/free-events

Sunday, May 7 • 1-4 pm

Impact Day is coming soon! Alumni are invited to sign up to return to Taylor Wells Road to give back to the place that gave us so much! Hear an update from the full-time team about the state of camp and plans for our 116th summer that campers and staff won’t forget. We will then head out to work on projects intended to help get camp ready for the summer season, including preparing gardens, cabin maintenance, clearing trails and more. We hope you’ll join us!

Pre-registration is required at www.campwise.org/impactday.

AVery Special “Todah Rabah”

TO ALL OF OUR MOST RECENT CAMP WISE DONORS!

We are honored to recognize the families, individuals and groups who have chosen to make thoughtful and generous contributions to Camp Wise. How your donations help:

• $18 can help support us in new programming supplies for a cabin or village program.

• $36 will help support camp’s ability to post over 7,000 photos over the summer.

• $180 goes toward amazing out-of-camp trip experiences for our older campers.

• $13,164 will make it possible for five desiring campers to experience the Home of Happiness for the first time.

CAMP WISE – ROPES

COURSE CAMPAIGN

Amy & Scott Bilsky

Marc Braun

Lisa Feinberg and Michael McFarland

Matthew Golden

Sherri Koppel

Samantha Licker and Adam Babcock

Lawrence Mack

Mary Ann & Dan Rothstein

Joel Saltzman

Sonni & Steven Senkfor

Michael Shapiro

Suzanne & William Utley

Richard Zakalik

Allison Zofan

INDIVIDUAL DONORS Anonymous Anonymous Jewish Federation Gift

Marilyn & Jeffrey Bilsky

Scott & Jane Brown

Brian Chessin

Carol & Arnold Feltoon

Foundation for Jewish Camping, Inc.

Google

FAMILY CAMP

Friday, Aug 11 – Sunday, Aug 13

CAMP CHAI

Friday, Aug 11 – Sunday, Aug 13

WOMEN’S WEEKEND

Friday, Aug 25 – Sunday, Aug 27

FAMILY FUN DAY

Sunday, Aug 27, 1-5 pm

To Register

finish; these were the lasting lessons,” said Sternfeld.

Arielle & Michael Gurman

Harold Grinspoon Foundation

Abby Kaufman & Molly Smemo

Dolores Kleinman

Melissa & Lee Korland

Barry Marlin

Zachary Marlin

Arielle Miller

Deborah & David Shifrin

In Memory Of

Maxine Middleton

Jennifer Slate & Jonathan Grischkan

Darby & Jon Steiger

Marni Weinstock

Please let us know if your name was inadvertently left off the list.

In Memory Of David Chestney

Jennifer Rich-Drasner & Jason Drasner

In Memory Of Jewell Goldstein

Andrea Smith

In Memory Of Jacob Butze

Jennifer & Todd Stern

Scholnick Family

Camp Wise Arts & Crafts Fund

Diane & Harvey Scholnick

As of 2/21/23

After 47 years of friendship Budin and Sternfeld became family. In 2016, Noah’s daughter Rachel and Fred’s son Adam married. Adam and Rachel knew each other from toddlerhood because of their fathers’ longstanding connection. Both Noah and Fred played guitar at the wedding ceremony and they even led the Camp Wise “Motzi” at dinner. In 2018, Adam and Rachel became proud parents of Tommy, who will be 5 years old in May. “He is loving and joyful and perfect,” reflected Sternfeld.

Noah and Fred both hope that Camp Wise will continue doing what it does best – laying the foundation for lifelong friendships, creativity and meaningful career paths. Fred’s career in theater and Noah’s career in music, theater and now as a Life Enrichment Coordinator for senior adults, were inspired by experiences at Camp Wise. As Sternfeld captured it, “it set the groundwork for who I am today.”

Wise Friends, continued from page 2

How Can I Help?

BE A CAMP WISE HOST FAMILY

Camp Wise is proud to have an amazing group of Israeli and international staff this summer. These fantastic young adults are excited to join Camp Wise each summer and they add so much to our community. We are looking for host families to offer these staff members a place to stay on their days off. Host families may provide transportation, have a bed or couch for staff to sleep and provide meals. Days off are typically from 6 pm one day until 7 pm the next and often from a Friday night to Saturday night.

Please open your home as a host family to our staff between June 16 and August 3.

As parents of four Camp Wise campers (all who went on to become CW staff), it felt natural for us to open our home and host international staff on their well earned days off. In the last 10 years, our lives have been blessed by hosting nearly 100 staffers from Israel, England, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and other countries. We still keep in touch with many of these young adults and will forever be grateful for this meaningful opportunity.

– Kathy & Rommie Sebo

LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP OUT. Email wisekids@mandeljcc.org

Looking for other ways to support Camp Wise this spring? You can support camp from home in these three ways!

1. Make a tax-deductible donation to Camp Wise.

2. Purchase an item or two from our Amazon Wish List and give back to CW with the purchase of supplies needed for the summer.

3. Camp Wise is kicking off the RTCWN (Random Things Camp Wise Needs) Drive again. You ask, what are these random things? Well, we will accept donations of:

• Empty toilet paper roles

• Plastic bags from stores

• Styrofoam™ trays from when you buy veggies at your local grocery store Bring these with you to Impact Day or drop off at the Mandel JCC (labeled Attn: Camp Wise) until Friday, May 26.